Bangladesh vs Afghanistan 2023

Test match (1): Bangladesh 1, Afghanistan
One-day internationals (3): Bangladesh 1, Afghanistan 2
Twenty20 internationals (2): Bangladesh 2, Afghanistan 0

Afghanistan had mixed results on their first full tour of Bangladesh. They went down comfortably in the only Test, but competed well in the white-ball games, winning the 50-over series. The original plan had been for two Tests, but that was changed as Afghanistan wanted to fit in a tour of India, later postponed until 2024. They might have been relieved not to play another Test, given the result of the first: Bangladesh won by 546 runs, the third-biggest margin in history.

Afghanistan had time to regroup: the delayed Indian tour meant three weeks between the Test and the one-day games. Afghanistan won the first two 50-over games to secure that series, having been well ahead when rain halted the first. They won the second easily, after openers Rahmanullah Gurbaz (who hit eight sixes) and Ibrahim Zadran put on 256 against a Bangladesh side distracted by off-field events.

The hosts did win the third, and both 20-over games in Sylhet, although a final-over hat-trick by Karim Janat briefly threatened an Afghan heist in the first. The tour may be remembered for the soap opera surrounding the on-off retirement of Bangladesh captain Tamim Iqbal. On July 6, the day after Afghanistan's victory in the first ODI, he sobbed through a retirement announcement in Chittagong. His departure was reportedly triggered by a local-paper interview with Nazmul Hassan, the volatile president of the national board, who blasted Tamim for wanting to use the match as a "fitness test", an approach he labelled "highly unprofessional".

Enter Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh's prime minister, and a cricket fan. She contacted Nazmul, but he could not reach Tamim, who had turned off his phone. She then asked Mashrafe bin Mortaza, the former Bangladesh captain and now an MP, to mediate. Next day, everyone emerged smiling from a clear- the-air meeting, and Tamim withdrew his retirement, though he did not play again in the series, with Liton Das taking the reins. "When the country's most important person tells you to reverse your decision, you do it," said Tamim. Sadly, a six-week break didn't resolve a back problem, and he missed both the Asia Cup and the World Cup.